We’ve all seen the news coverage of the ongoing defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard — regardless of if we’re seeking it out or not. Vigilant fans might even have learned a little about the upcoming film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom if they were paying close attention. The constant media cycle surrounding the trial has been covered ad nauseam elsewhere, so we won’t really be getting into it here. What we will get into is what we know about Aquaman 2 as a result.
In the midst of the trial and everything leading up to it, Johnny Depp argues that he’s lost out on a number of roles thanks to his relationship with Heard. He was replaced in the Fantastic Beasts franchise by Mads Mikkelsen, and won’t be moving forward with the Pirates Of The Caribbean series either. And Heard has claimed her role in the upcoming Aquaman sequel was trimmed as a result of the negative controversy around her various legal battles with Depp.
During one of the trial hearings, Kathryn Arnold took the stand. Arnold is a consultant in the industry, and during the public trial, she described a scene from early on in the film. She said (SPOILERS):
They had her in the hospital very shortly in the first part of the movie called Act One. They had her in the hospital and they pretty much had her in the hospital and then she was going to do this action sequence in the end. She goes on to say: ‘I believe that in the first act of the movie, she was injured somehow… or has something to do with the baby.’
A lot of people are speculating that her role actually has been pared down pretty dramatically. It remains to be seen until the movie actually gets released. There are just so many competing statements it’s difficult to make heads or tails of what the movie will actually look like. Heard’s character Mera, Aquaman’s love interest — and now the speculation is her character is pregnant, so maybe that’s what the hospital thing is about. Others have conjectured that maybe the character is injured as a way to cut down on her screen time.
Either way, you can see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on March 17, 2023, provided the release date doesn’t get pushed back again.
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